PriceSpot
The Pokémon TCG's 2027 McDonald's promos have been revealed a year early, apparently by accident
The 2027 McDonald's Pokémon TCG promo cards are already out in the open, about a year before they're due. According to OpenCritic, The Pokémon Company showed the full lineup in a promotional post for the 2026 McDonald's campaign, and PokeBeach was the one to spot it. Release isn't until late 2027, which leaves an awfully long wait for cards people can already argue about.
A 2026 promotion that gave away 2027
A post meant to drum up interest in this year's McDonald's cards ended up getting people talking about next year's. We did enjoy that.
The report says the company likely didn't intend to show them. That sounds right to us, although it's still a guess about what went on behind the scenes. Intended or not, the lineup is public now.
We're leaving the card names out of this piece. Promo speculation gets messy quickly, and a confident list of the wrong Pokémon helps nobody.
Why a fast food promo gets this much attention
On paper, a collaboration with a burger chain shouldn't make serious collectors look up from their binders. Yet the annual McDonald's promotion has become one of the Pokémon TCG's most popular collaborations, and we're curious too.
For us, a lot of the appeal is the ritual. It comes round every year, and a run of these sets looks rather lovely side by side. You don't have to be hunting anything expensive to enjoy that.
The anniversary already has plenty of promos competing for your money
This leak also lands in a crowded year. Fans have had a steady supply of new promos throughout the game's 30th anniversary: each core expansion brings its own prerelease promos stamped with the set's logo, and special Futuristic Rare versions of Espeon, Umbreon and Pikachu are on the way in the upcoming Ultra-Premium Collection for 30th Celebration.
Older versions of those three already carry serious prices. Here's where some of them stand on Cardmarket, based on the prices we track at PriceSpot:
- Umbreon (Aquapolis, 041/147): €797.08, up from €748.52 seven days earlier
- Espeon (Aquapolis, 011/147): €424.73, up from €399.70 seven days earlier
- Pikachu (EX Holon Phantoms, 78/110): €352.51, down from €408.34 seven days earlier
That Pikachu dropped €55.83 in a week. Being Pikachu didn't save it, and we see no reason a promo would get special treatment.
None of these figures tell you what a McDonald's promo will sell for in 2027. They're different cards from different eras, and we wouldn't draw a straight line between them. For a better sense of how quickly prices can move, have a look at our weekly report on Pokémon cards rising and falling.
What we'd do with a year's notice
Mostly, nothing.
Nobody can put a sensible value on a card that isn't due until late 2027, and the mood around a set can change a lot between now and then. Talk about the lineup all you like, but keep your money where it is. If someone offers you one of these promos today, ask exactly what they're selling, given how far off the release is.
Once the cards do arrive, we'd still be careful with loose copies, especially of the popular ones. Keep our guide on how to tell if a Pokémon card is fake somewhere handy.
For now, you'll get more out of a look through what you already own. Plenty of us have old promos sitting in a drawer, and checking what your Pokémon cards are worth beats trying to price a card that's still a year away.
What we see at PriceSpot
We track Cardmarket prices for more than 120,000 cards in seven languages every day, and the question we get most is always the same: is this one of mine worth anything? To find out you can scan your cards for free with the app, or check what each set is worth and this week's report.
News source: OpenCritic
